Jean-François Hochedez

Pre-flight calibration of LYRA, the solar VUV radiometer on board PROBA2

Aims. LYRA, the Large Yield Radiometer, is a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) solar radiometer, planned to be launched in November 2009 on the European Space Agency PROBA2, the Project for On-Board Autonomy spacecraft. Methods. The instrument was radiometrically calibrated in the radiometry laboratory of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) at the Berlin Electron Storage ring for SYnchroton radiation (BESSY II). The calibration was done using monochromatized synchrotron radiation at PTBs VUV and soft X-ray radiometry beamlines using reference detectors calibrated with the help of an electrical substitution radiometer as the primary detector standard. Results. A total relative uncertainty of the radiometric calibration of the LYRA instrument between 1% and 11% was achieved. LYRA will provide irradiance data of the Sun in four UV passbands and with high temporal resolution down to 10 ms. The present state of the LYRA pre-flight calibration is presented as well as the expected instrument performance.

New UV detectors for solar observations

BOLD (Blind to the Optical Light Detectors) is an international initiative dedicated to the development of novel imaging detectors for UV solar observations. It relies on the properties of wide bandgap materials (in particular diamond and Al-Ga-nitrides). The investigation is proposed in view of the Solar Orbiter (S.O.) UV instruments, for which the expected benefits of the new sensors -primarily visible blindness and radiation hardness- will be highly valuable. Despite various advances in the technology of imaging detectors over the last decades, the present UV imagers based on silicon CCDs or microchannel plates exhibit limitations inherent to their actual material and technology. Yet, the utmost spatial resolution, fast temporal cadence, sensitivity, and photometric accuracy will be decisive for the forthcoming solar space missions. The advent of imagers based on wide-bandgap materials will permit new observations and, by simplifying their design, cheaper instruments. As for the Solar Orbiter, the aspiration for wide-bandgap material (WBGM) based UV detectors is still more sensible because the spacecraft will approach the Sun where the heat and the radiation fluxes are high. We describe the motivations, and present the program to achieve revolutionary flight cameras within the Solar Orbiter schedule as well as relevant UV measurements.

Solar-blind UV detectors based on wide band gap semiconductors

Solid-state photon detectors based on wide band gap semiconductors are not yet considered mature technology but their current development opens new possibilities, also for space observations. Such devices are especially attractive for ultraviolet radiation detection, as semiconductor materials with band gaps larger than that of silicon can be produced and used as “visible-blind” or “solar-blind” detectors that are not affected by daylight. Here we evaluate the advantages of such detectors compared to silicon-based devices and report on the semiconductor detectors that have been fabricated in recent years with materials having large band gap energies. We describe the most common pixel designs and characterize their general properties.

Virtual Super Resolution of Scale Invariant Textured Images Using Multifractal Stochastic Processes

We present a new method of magnification for textured images featuring scale invariance properties. This work is originally motivated by an application to astronomical images. One goal is to propose a method to quantitatively predict statistical and visual properties of images taken by a forthcoming higher resolution telescope from older images at lower resolution. This is done by performing a virtual super resolution using a family of scale invariant stochastic processes, namely compound Poisson cascades, and fractional integration. The procedure preserves the visual aspect as well as the statistical properties of the initial image. An augmentation of information is performed by locally adding random small scale details below the initial pixel size. This extrapolation procedure yields a potentially infinite number of magnified versions of an image. It allows for large magnification factors (virtually infinite) and is physically conservative: zooming out to the initial resolution yields the initial image back. The (virtually) super resolved images can be used to predict the quality of future observations as well as to develop and test compression or denoising techniques.

Development of imaging arrays for solar UV observations based on wide band gap materials

Solar ultraviolet imaging instruments in space pose most demanding requirements on their detectors in terms of dynamic range, low noise, high speed, and high resolution. Yet UV detectors used on missions presently in space have major drawbacks limiting their performance and stability. In view of future solar space missions we have started the development of new imaging array devices based on wide band gap materials (WBGM), for which the expected benefits of the new sensors - primarily visible blindness and radiation hardness - will be highly valuable. Within this initiative, called “Blind to Optical Light Detectors (BOLD)”, we have investigated devices made of AlGa-nitrides and diamond. We present results of the responsivity measurements extending from the visible down to extreme UV wavelengths. We discuss the possible benefits of these new devices and point out ways to build new imaging arrays for future space missions.

Autocorrelation and phase retrieval in the UV using two-photon absorption in diamond pin photodiodes.

We report on the utilization of the two-photon induced free carrier generation in a diamond pin-type photodiode to record fringe-resolved second-order autocorrelations of femtosecond pulses in the UV. Measurements in photovoltaic mode are performed at the second and third harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser (lambda(0)=401 nm and lambda(0)=265 nm) with pulse energies down to about 2 nJ. The band gap of diamond of 5.5 eV sets a short wavelength limit at about 225 nm. Combined with the simultaneously recorded linear autocorrelation the spectral phase is reconstructed employing an iterative algorithm.

Dark signal correction for a lukecold frame-transfer CCD - New method and application to the solar imager of the PICARD space mission

Context. Astrophysical observations must be corrected for their imperfections of instrumental origin. When Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) are used, their dark signal is one such hindrance. In their pristine state, most CCD pixels are ‘cool’, i.e. they exhibit a low, quasi uniform dark current, which can be estimated and corrected for. In space, after having been hit by an energetic particle, pixels can turn ‘hot’, viz. they start delivering excessive, less predictable, dark current. The hot pixels need therefore to be flagged so that subsequent analysis may ignore them. Aims. The image data of the PICARD SODISM solar telescope (Meftah et al. 2013) require dark signal correction and hot pixel identification. Its E2V 42-80 CCD operates at -7.2°C and has a frame transfer architecture. Both image and memory zones thus accumulate dark current during, respectively, integration and readout time. These two components must be separated in order to estimate the dark signal for any observation. This is the main purpose of the Dark Signal Model presented in this paper. Methods. The dark signal time series of every pixel is processed by the ‘unbalanced Haar technique’ (Fryzlewicz 2007) in order to timestamp the instants when its dark signal is expected to change significantly. In-between those, both components are assumed constant, and a robust linear regression vs. integration time provides first estimates and a quality coecient. The latter serves to assign definitive estimates for this pixel and for that period. Results. Our model is part of the SODISM Level 1 data production scheme. To check its reliability, we verify on dark frames that it leaves a negligible residual bias (5e^{-}), and generates a small RMS error (25 e^{-}rms). We also analyze the distribution of the image zone dark current. The cool pixel level is found to be 4.1 e^{-} . pxl^{-1} . s^{-1}, in agreement with the predicted value. The emergence rate of hot pixels is investigated too. It legitimates a threshold criterion at 50 e^{-} . pxl^{-1} . s^{-1}. The growth rate is found to be on average ~500 new hot pixels per day, i.e. 4.2% of the image zone area per year. Conclusions. A new method for dark signal correction of a frame transfer CCD operating at only ca. -10°C is demonstrated. It allows making recommendations about the scientific usage of such CCDs in space. Independently, aspects of the method (adaptation of the unbalanced Haar technique, dedicated robust linear regression) have a generic interest.

Calibration of the EIT instrument for the SOHO mission

Optical characteristics in the wavelength range 15 - 75 nm of the EUV imaging telescope to be launched soon on the SOHO mission are discussed. Bandpasses and photometric sensitivity of the multilayered optics telescope have been measured by a dedicated synchrotron light source at Orsay, France.

PICARD payload thermal control system and general impact of the space environment on astronomical observations

PICARD is a spacecraft dedicated to the simultaneous measurement of the absolute total and spectral solar irradiance, the diameter, the solar shape, and to probing the Sun’s interior by the helioseismology method. The mission has two scientific objectives, which are the study of the origin of the solar variability, and the study of the relations between the Sun and the Earth’s climate. The spacecraft was successfully launched, on June 15, 2010 on a DNEPR-1 launcher. PICARD spacecraft uses the MYRIADE family platform, developed by CNES to use as much as possible common equipment units. This platform was designed for a total mass of about 130 kg at launch. This paper focuses on the design and testing of the TCS (Thermal Control System) and in-orbit performance of the payload, which mainly consists in two absolute radiometers measuring the total solar irradiance, a photometer measuring the spectral solar irradiance, a bolometer, and an imaging telescope to determine the solar diameter and asphericity. Thermal control of the payload is fundamental. The telescope of the PICARD mission is the most critical instrument. To provide a stable measurement of the solar diameter over three years duration of mission, telescope mechanical stability has to be excellent intrinsically, and thermally controlled. Current and future space telescope missions require ever-more dimensionally stable structures. The main scientific performance related difficulty was to ensure the thermal stability of the instruments. Space is a harsh environment for optics with many physical interactions leading to potentially severe degradation of optical performance. Thermal control surfaces, and payload optics are exposed to space environmental effects including contamination, atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation, and vacuum temperature cycling. Environmental effects on the performance of the payload will be discussed. Telescopes are placed on spacecraft to avoid the effects of the Earth atmosphere on astronomical observations (turbulence, extinction, ...). Atmospheric effects, however, may subsist when spacecraft are launched into low orbits, with mean altitudes of the order of 735 km.

Preliminary results on irradiance measurements from lyra and swap

The first and preliminary results of the photometry of Large Yield Radiometer (LYRA) and Sun Watcher using Active Pixel system detector and Image Processing (SWAP) onboard PROBA2 are presented in this paper. To study the day-to-day variations of LYRA irradiance, we have compared the LYRA irradiance values (observed Sun as a star) measured in Aluminum filter channel (171 A-500 A) with spatially resolved full-disk integrated intensity values measured with SWAP (174 A) and Ca II K 1 A index values (ground-based observations from NSO/Sac Peak) for the period from 01 April 2010 to 15 Mar 2011. We found that there is a good correlation between these parameters. This indicates that the spatial resolution of SWAP complements the high temporal resolution of LYRA. Hence SWAP can be considered as an additional radiometric channel. Also the K emission index is the integrated intensity (or flux) over a 1 A band centered on the K line and is proportional to the total emission from the chromosphere; this comparison clearly explains that the LYRA irradiance variations are due to the various magnetic features, which are contributing significantly. In addition to this we have made an attempt to segregate coronal features from full-disk SWAP images. This will help to understand and determine the actual contribution of the individual coronal feature to LYRA irradiance variations.